ISLAMABAD, Jul 7 (APP): Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said here Wednesday that the Ministry of Commerce had further intensified efforts and was appointing honorary investment councilors to bring Chinese investment in the country.
Addressing a conference organized by the Pakistan-China Institute, the adviser said that the commerce ministry has been appointing honorary investment councilors in different Chinese cities to encourage investors for investment in Pakistan.
“We have organized several video conferences with different Chinese investors and parties in different cities and I am pleased to say that now we have eight honorary investment councilors who know Pakistan well. They (would) help to build relationship between people,” the minister said.
He said that one of these eight councilors informed that he had 20 investors ready to bring investment into Pakistan in several fields.
Razak Dawood said since the COVID-19 had restricted movement of Chinese investors, however expressed the hope it would gain momentum once corona-virus reduces. “More Chinese investors will visit Pakistan to explore existing opportunities in different sectors of local economy,” he added.
He said that issuance of work visa had witnessed about 42 percent increase, adding that more people would come for investment during the days to come, which would further enhance bilateral trade and investment relations between both the countries.
He said that the number of medium size companies coming in Pakistan has already been pacing up.
He said, 40 potential investors expressed their intentions for investing in construction, production, manufacturing, chemicals, textile, and tiles, adding that it was just the beginning and we are preparing for the Strategic Trade Policy Frame Work and diversification of local products to enhance exports.
He said that the Free Trade Agreement between Pakistan and China, that formally started on January 1, 2020 was gaining momentum despite COVID-19 Pandemic, adding that trade between both the countries was on rise and would further increase when pandemic is over.
He said that exports to China witnessed about 30 percent increase during last financial year ended on June, 30 2021 and reached to S2.33 billion.
He said that both the countries were concentrating on agriculture and industrial cooperation, adding that China was also providing technical assistance in agriculture research and introduced high-yielding rice seed, which help to enhance per-acre output non-basmati rice, besides increasing its exports to many times.
He said that Pakistan was now focusing more on value addition of products to enhance its exports, adding that as a result local exports of textile value added products gone up, where as exports of yarn decreased by 2 percent.
Razak Dawood said that Pakistan was also focusing on regional diversification for integrated regional trade by linking Central Asian States with road links under CPEC to capitalize investment done in Gwadar and development of the region.
He said that prior to this the Chinese investors were invited for making investments to and produce imports substitute for Pakistan, adding that now they are asked to come and invest for producing products to exports.
